Artic fox
by razorback09
Summary: Tired of all the hate the village, naruto decides to leave and start over somewhere else. along the way he is reacquainted with another who decides to follow naruto on his new path as his partner. Rated MA for languge. AU OOC harem in later chapters. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Enough_

I do not own Naruto.

Welcome to Konoha; The land of fires hidden village, and the most powerful of all the hidden village's. The one thing that made this village stronger than the others was its focus on team work. Everything revolved around the belief of 'No one left behind', or as some would like to call it 'The will of fire'.

That brings us to an event that would go down as the moment that changed a lot of people's lives. With his belief of never giving up, and never going back on his word, Naruto had kept the one promise he just had to fulfill. A promise made to his team mate Sakura of bringing back there stray team mate, Sasuke Uchiha. It had almost killed the both of them to make good on that promise.

Mid-morning at the main gates sat two Chūnin; Izumo and Kotetsu; who seemed to always have been assigned gate duty. The two 'Gate keepers' as some call them, was sitting at the guard shack board out of the minds. The attack on the village during the Chūnin exams still had the place locked down tight even though they had a new Hokage. Yesterday it was even tighter when it was found that the last Uchiha had left the village, although it was unclear whether it was by force or not. The Hokage had sent out a few teams 'one of which was the suna Genin team' out as back up for the main pursuit squad. All of the teams had made it back already, but one Genin, Naruto Uzumaki.

The two guards look in the distance and see Naruto walking ever so slowly with his unconscious team mate slung on his back. Naruto walks up to the gates and the guards see a weak, beaten, and blood soaked Naruto as he looks to the guards "U uUuu … Uzumaki Naruto returning with missing Nin Sasuke Uchiha, mission accommp…." And passed out on the ground with his unconscious team mate on top of him.

Upon closer inspection the two boys were sporting some really bad wounds all over their bodies. With quick thinking the two guardsmen each grab a boy and shunshin to the hospital. They appear in the waiting room of the hospital and rush the boys to the e.r. for treatment. Izumo chose to stay and look after the boys while Kotetsu left to inform the Hokage of what had happened.

When Naruto woke the first thing he noticed was how sterilized the air smelled. He knew this smell; it meant that he was in the hospital. Kami how he hated being here. He didn't have the best memories of this place. This was supposed to be a place of healing, but thanks to the ignorance of the village doctors, he had come close to dying a few times when he was much younger. He would have if it hadn't been for the fox's healing ability and the protection of the Hokage. So whenever Naruto found himself here he would always try to escape and this time would be no different.

So with a bit of effort he managed to open his eyes which he soon regretted from the pain of the bright sun light coming thru the window. He gave a small groin and quickly reclosed his eyes. After a few minutes of adjusting was able to keep his eyes open.

When the blurriness went away the first thing he saw made his heart jump a bit. There was Sakura sitting in a chair at the foot of his bed asleep wrapped up in a blanket. She looked just like an angel sitting there, and Naruto was a little shocked that she was sitting there and not by sasuke's bed side.

Naruto tried to sit up a little bit, but the spot on his chest where Sasuke's chidori had went though was still a bit tender and gave a bit of a grunt and grabbed his chest. His grunting was just loud enough to wake the sleeping Kunoichi who saw that her team mate had just woken up.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and looked back to him "Naruto, your awake?" she had just sat there staring at him when she abruptly stood up and walked to the side of Naruto's bed like she was going to check on her team mate with a smile on her face and Naruto gave her a small smile back.

However, when she got to the side of his bed her smile faded into a scowl. Naruto was just about to ask her if something was wrong when Sakura raised her hand and slapped Naruto across the face as hard as she could muster with the back of her hand. She just stared at him while he rubbed his cheek in shock when she started to yell at him with as much venom as she could put into her voice. "How dare you Naruto, do you have any idea how much pain and suffering you just put Sasuke-kun through? You almost killed him! I will never forgive you for this. You were to bring him back, but not like this. He is so bad they won't let anyone in to see him right now. It's not fair, it's just not fair. It should have been him recovering and you in the coma. I hate you Naruto. I can't stand to even be here talking to you, but I was ordered by Kakashi-sensei to watch over you till you woke up. I wish that Sasuke-kun had finished you off for good."

SLAP! This time it was Naruto who slapped Sakura.

Sakura just stood there in shock holding her stinging cheek. It took a second for it to register what had just happened. Did Naruto just slap her back? The whelp across her face was proof that he did just that. She looked back to Naruto to see that he was looking at her and she almost didn't recognize her blond haired team mate.

His whisker marks had deepened, his nails had grown a bit broader, but the most shocking change was his eyes. No longer where they the deep blue of calmness, but blood red animalistic silted eyes like a vulpine would have. To top it all off was the dark, deep growl coming from his throat, which made every hair stand on end.

Naruto grabbed her collar and pulled her face inches from his, and with a soft but deepened voice looked deep into Sakura's eyes which were tearing up from the KI he was letting off "How dare you. I brought him back to you like I promised I would. He tried to kill me, and I was just defending myself. But you know what though, for as long as I have known you I have been trying to be your friend, but you kept insulting me and abusing me, but no more. As of this moment you are all but dead to me, Haruno-san. I hope you and the dobe have a nice life together. You truly deserve each other." And let her go.

Naruto then tore out the IV out of his arm flung back the sheet walked to the window, opened it and was just about to jump out when he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned to see Sakura with tears running down her still whelped cheek with a pleading look in her eyes. He yanked his arm away and pointed to her "Don't you ever touch me again or I will not hold back on you." A clone formed and snuck behind her and hit her at the base of the neck knocking her out. The clone caught her, picked her up, and put her on Naruto's bed then covered her up in his place.

While this was going on the real Naruto found his outfit and quickly got dressed. He was just about to tie on his head band when he stopped and stared at it, then stuffs it in his pocket. He turned and walked up to his clone.

The clone gave a salute "Sup boss, what now?" The real Naruto looked back to his bed and spoke "I want you to hendge into Haruno and take her place in the chair. Pretend to be asleep long enough for me to get home." The clone gave a salute and in a puff of smoke became Sakura. Naruto gave one last look around and then leaped out the window toward his apartment.

After a short route via the roof tops made it home, or what was left of it. The front door was gone and all along the wall was spray painted with the words 'Go Back To Hell Demon' over and over along the wall. He clenched his fist and started to walk inside when he saw the entire place had been fire bombed. Nothing was left untouched. Everything he had owned was gone.

He made a B line straight to his bed room to the closet. There he fell to his knees and started to pry at the floorboard until the board was pried opened. Inside was a lockbox. He had kept everything he considered important in here just for this reason. Inside was all of his money which was considered vast seeing as all he was buying was food. The Hokage had a stipend that paid all of his bliss for him. He would do as many D class missions in his free time. With help of his clones, he made quite a bit of money.

Also in the box was a photo of him and of the third Hokage a few years back. A much small Naruto was wearing the Hokage's hat while sitting on his lap. A stay tear fell down Naruto's cheek thinking back on his 'Jiji'. Naruto wiped the tear away and continued to empty out the safe. He grabbed a few scrolls he had and stuffed them into his coat. Some of the scrolls were of different kinds of jutsu; some were sealing scrolls with spare closes and camping equipment he kept just in case.

The last thing Naruto finds puts a smile back on his face. It was a memento from his mission in the land of snow. It was an autographed picture of him recovering in the hospital after his battle with Dotō, being kissed by princess Koyuki. On the back of the photo Koyuki had wrote 'Naruto, if you ever need anything all you need to do is ask. I will always be indented to you for all you did for me and my people. There for you always, Koyuki Kazahana.'

Naruto read that over and over and made a decision then and there that would completely alter his dreams. He decided that he no longer wanted to live inside Konoha, and he would head to snow country. He didn't know what he would do when he got there, but he would cross that bridge when he got there. All there was here for him was more pain and suffering, and he had enough. Here was someone willing to help him achieve something that has always eluded him, true happiness.

With a new determination stood up and created a clone which stood at attention. "Take the head band in your pocket out and take off your necklace." The clone did as he was told and the real Naruto did the same thing, but he handed the clone the real items. "I want you to put these on, and head to the Hokage's office. Give this necklace to bachan tell her that your leaving and to give the headband back to Iruka-sensei, but give me about four or five hours head start before you go." The clone gave a salute and the real Naruto left the village to head to snow country to start his new life.


	2. Chapter 2

_Partnership_

_Still don't own it…._

_Five hours later…_

_The Hokage tower…_

The clone walks in to see the new Hokage passed out on her desk. She was drooling on the paperwork she was working on when she passed out, probably due to intoxication, if the few empty sake bottles scattered around the desk was any indication. The clone shook his head and let out a cough to alert the Hokage that he was there.

When she woke she saw Naruto standing there with a stern look on his face that just seemed unnatural on him. Still groggy from a hangover she was in no mood for whatever had him looking so troubled. "Ohh, it's you brat. What is it you want, and be quite about it, I have a massive headache so talk quietly?" She said while rubbing her temples with her mystic palm jutsu to help try to relieve some of the pain in her head.

The clone sat down in a chair in front of the desk, which confused Tsūnade a little as Naruto never sat in here, unless it was on the floor while he was pouting about something. "Hey baa-chan, I need to talk to you about something, but could you send for Iruka-sensei too as I need to say this too him as well. It's important or I wouldn't disturb you both this late in the evening. "He said in a hushed tone as not to get hit by Tsūnade, just for him to dispel.

Tsunade looked at naruto for a second and nodded her head. She pushed a button on the desk and an Anbu walked out the shadows "Yes Hokage-sama!" he said with a salute. Tsunade looked to the white masked Anbu "I want you to find and retrieve Iruka at once." And the Anbu disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves.

A few minutes later there was another puff of smoke to reveal the Chūnin school teacher Iruka. "Here as ordered Hokage-sama." It was then that he saw that the Hokage wasn't alone in the room. In front of her was Naruto looking very sad for some reason. He then sat in a chair next to the blond Genin.

The Hokage looked to Naruto "Ok Naruto he is here. Now, what is this all about?"

The clone took a deep breath and stood back up and took out the headband off his forehead and handed it to a confused Iruka. Naruto then took off the necklace and then handed it to an equally confused Hokage. "What's going on Naruto, why are you handing me this? I told you I am in no mood for games!"

Naruto let a tear form in the corner of his eye and took in a deep breath "I am officially resigning as a leaf shinobi, and I am leaving the leaf baa-chan. I am sick of the way this village has treated me and I have had enough. I want a chance at true happiness, which is something I can never achieve here and you know I am right, and I dare you to tell me any different. Cense I will no longer be a leaf ninja I thought I would return this to the two of you. The two of you have been like the parents I never had and I will never forget that. Thank you both, I love you … and goodbye." and puffed out reveling that this had been a clone all along leaving a shocked Tsūnade and Iruka.

The Hokage sat there in shock for a minute and pressed the button again to revel another Anbu "Yes, lord Hokage?" The Hokage stands; slams her palm on her desk hard enough to crack the top, and yells at the Anbu "I want a search party formed to locate Naruto Uzumaki who has left the village at once." And the Anbu disappeared and Iruka looked back to the Hokage who had sat back down holding the necklace she had given him and started to cry uncontrollably. Iruka walks over to Tsūnade and she grabs ahold of his waist and proceeds to bawl into his abdomen. Iruka could no longer hold his own emotions and began to weep along with the Hokage, just like two parents who just lost their own child.

_Back with Naruto…_

Naruto had been running about for hours when he came to a clearing in the forest and decided to take a small break. Upon further inspection Naruto saw that most of the trees had been blown over in the same direction somehow. He walks to one of the few remaining standing trees to use the bathroom and relives himself. When he was done he walks over to a down tree and sits on the trunk. He takes out a ration bar to snack on until he could safely stop to make camp to fix dinner.

While he sat there eating he saw something flash in the corner of his eye in amiss of the down trees. He puts away his bar and pulls out a kunai. He slowly walks over to where he saw the flash to see a piece of metal under a fallen tree. Upon further inspection he sees a hand holding onto the metal. He walks around the tree to see a female unconscious pinned under the tree. He slowly walks over to her with his kunai at ready to check her pulse. He turns her head to see her face and jumps back. He recognized this woman, it was one of Orochimaru's sound four, Tayuya, he thought her name was.

'Hmm. This must have been where Shika and Tamari fought her. I wonder if she is still alive." and carefully walks back to her. He gets down on one knee and checks her pulse to find a very weak heartbeat, and very shallow breathing. Being who he was couldn't just leave her here like this, no matter who it was.

Naruto created a few clones to help lift the trunk, and removed the tree trunk off of her. He then picked her up bridle style and started to run again to find a place to make camp for the night. After a few moments he found a cave along a cliff face that would give a good vantage point to look out for any persuaders. He got inside the cave and lay down the sound Kunoichi carefully. He then walked back to the entrance to the cave and made about twenty clones. "I want all of you but two to go on roving patrol; I want the other two of you to find the two of us some dinner, firewood, and water for later." All the clones gave a salute and went off to do their jobs while the real Naruto went back to check on the girl.

When he got there he found her rolling around in pain while unconsciously grabbing her neck and started to scream in pain. He walked over to her to see black marks all over her face and neck just like Sasuke had done at the valley of the end. It was that damn curse mark again. Kami how he hated that thing.

All of a sudden the markings went back into the seal and the seal started to glow a deep red like it was on fire. The light went out and the girl slumped back down on the ground not moving anymore. Naruto walked back to her and felt her pulse again to find there wasn't any. He then looked to were the mark was to find it fading away, leaving behind a burn scar on her neck.

He reached to touch the spot where the mark was when all of a sudden red chakra started to flow out of his hand into the girl's neck only for Naruto's world to suddenly go black and passes out himself.

He regains conscious again, but he seemed to be somewhere else. He appeared to be in a tunnel with water covering the floor. He knew this place as he had been here before. This was his mindscape or more to the point, inside the seal. It seems that bastered fox wanted to have a few words with him. Great, just what he needed. He picks himself up and walked down the tunnel to the chamber where the sealed fox lived. We walked up to the cage keeping a distance from the fox's claws learning his lesson from past visits.

He saw the fox sitting down behind the cage with all nine tails waving behind it staring at its container with a smile on its face. "**Well, well, well, if it isn't the kit come to see lil' ol me. Hahahaha!"**

Naruto got a little irritated with the fox "What is it you want you over grown hairball, and don't start on breaking the seal, because that is never going to happen."

The fox slammed its paw though the bars and tried to hit Naruto who was well out of the way. **"How dare you insult me you hairless ape. You would be best to respect me boy. And here I went and saved that girl for you, and this is the thanks I get for saving your new mate. Hahahaha!"**

Naruto was taken aback by that remark. "What the hell are you babbling about now, you baka fox?"

The fox narrowed its eyes at the name calling, but decided to continue on "**Well, to start off, the seal that was on the girl was just about to kill her and destroy her body along with it. It seems the owner of the seal just activated a self-destruct protocol. Of you hadn't touched the spot where it was just at that moment, I couldn't have saved her. What I did was let her die just long enough to purge her of the soul that was powering the seal, then I put some of my yoki into it to… well, how can I say this were your simpleton primate mind will understand, I turned the original seal into a life boat, if you will. She now has a seal that you can influence, with my help of course. I will not have any container of mine seem weak, and with this you will have a very powerful ally bound to you for the rest of her life, in more ways than one. In cense she has become your vassal. Conceder this gift for the trouble I have caused you when you were younger. Now, I grow tired, and I need to take a nap. That transfer took a lot out of me, now go check on your new mate, and be gone."**

And with that Naruto's world became black again. He awoke with his clone shaking his shoulder "Boss, are you OK?" Naruto shook his head to clear the cobwebs 'Baka pervy-fox.' He thought. He then saw that he was laying on top Tayuya with his hand still on her neck. When he removed his hand he could see that were the original seal was to see a new seal the shape of a spiral. He then saw her move her head and grown to slowly open her eyes.

When her eyes landed on Naruto she froze in place when and stared at him for a few minutes before speaking with a rough and scratchy voice. "What the fuck are you looking at shithead? What are you waiting for, go ahead and finish me off will ya you fucking tree hugger." Who recognized who Naruto was.

Naruto stood up quickly and started to wave his hands in front of him. "No, no, no. I'm not trying to kill you, just the opposite in fact. I just saved your life. I promise you I will not do anything to harm you unless you give me a reason too."

"Whatever shithead, it doesn't matter anyway, as soon as that fucking pedophile of a snake finds out that I have failed him will kill me anyway with the curse mark." She said rubbing the spot on the neck were the mark was.

Naruto sat down next to her and she just glared at him as he took a deep breath. "Well, about the curse mark, I sorta, kinda, destroyed it and replaced it with another seal. When we got here you started to scream in pain and the mark started to self-destruct and you sort of…..well, you died. I went to check your pulse, and you had none. I went to touch where the seal was when something interfered, and sort of redesigned the seal, with some help from the…. Well, before I say who helped: Let me ask you a question? Do you know who and what I am?"

Tayuya looked at Naruto face and saw the whisker marks on his cheek. She remembered Orochimaru telling her team about a boy with blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks on his cheeks….. The Kyūbi's Jinchūriki. "Yea your fucking Uzumaki; the damn baby who the fourth Hokage sealed the damned Kyūbi into, wait, you're not telling me that that fucking furball was the one that help you." She said while she tried to will her body to move to no avail.

Naruto saw this and just sighed, and nodded his head. "Yes, when I went to check your pulse I felt that there was none. I saw that the mark was fading so I touched the spot where it was when the fox started to send its yoki into the seal to stop the self-destruct, and replace the peace of that soul snake face left in it to keep you alive. In doing so apparently bonded the two of us together for life. According to the fox, you would become something called a vassal to me. What that entails, well, I have no idea, but yea." As he put his hands behind his head giving a guiltily laugh.

She just stared at him and tears started to roll down her cheeks. She then started to bawl. She started to cry so hard she started to shake. Naruto looked at her and felt his heart ache. He had just hurt this girl, all be it via the fox, but it was his fault none the less. He was about to say something to her when he heard her cries turn to a small laugh, but the laugh steadily grew into a full out hysterical fit of laughter. "I don't care if I am to be your vassal if it means that I am no longer tied to that fucking snake. Hahaha Hahahaha." She started to laugh again until she laughed herself back to sleep.

Naruto just sat there for moment thinking about what she had just said. He was worried that he had caused the girl harm when in fact she was happy about what had happened. Looking to her saw her asleep again, so he decided to fix dinner and get a little bit of shut eye himself when he all of a sudden got the memory's from the clone he had left to see the Hokage. 'How did I see all of that, it was like I was there myself.' He thought. 'Is this another ability of the shadow clone jutsu? I will have to look into this later.' and went to his bed roll to fall asleep.

After about four hours Naruto woke when he received another memory from another clone. This one was a clone about ten miles away who had spotted a patrol of leaf ninja heading back toward Konoha. It had dispelled its self to prevent it from being spotted.

Naruto looked over to Tayuya and saw her waking up herself and got up and walked up to her. "Good morning sunshine, how are you felling?"

She opened her eyes and soon regretted it due to the sun light. "Ahh fuck, that was stupid Tayuya. Ohh my head. How the fuck do you think I'm doing, shithead. I hurt from head to toe. However, I think I can move about in a bit though. Why, what the fuck is up?"

Naruto shook his head at the colorful language the former sound kunoichi was using "There is a leaf patrol about ten miles out heading toward Konoha so I want to leave and get pass the fire border to evade any further patrols."

Tayuya tried to stand and fell back down on her side. Naruto saw this and created a few clones. One went to Tayuya and placed her on his back. The other started to pack up there stuff to head out. When everything was ready Naruto walked up the clone holding Tayuya. "You can ride on the clone till you get your strength back to move yourself. I want to be out of fire country by night fall. Then we can set up camp till the both of us are at full strength."

Tayuya nodded her head and both Naruto and the clone jumped out the cave, and headed to the border of fire and earth.

After about five more hours, and slipping past the border patrols quietly slipped into the border of rock country. The real Naruto and the clone stop at the edge of a river bank. Naruto looked to the passenger riding on the clones back "Ok, this should be far enough into earth to set up camp for a few days till we get ready to head to snow. I will send clones out for century duty, and to set up camp."

The clone holding Tayuya let her down and helped her sit on a large rock to rest. She looked to Naruto who had just created about thirty clones and told them what to do. He them walked back to Tayuya and sat next to her. She was still a bit confused about a few things, and needed some clarifying. "So shithead, why snow country? Also, why the fuck are you running away from the tree huggers anyway?"

Naruto sweat dropped at her language "Why must you call me that, I have a name you know. As for why I am leaving Konoha, well, to tell to the truth, I left Konoha because all of my life I've had to keep a constant eye on my surroundings because a lot of the villagers saw me as the Kyūbi, and not as its jailer. I was, on a regular basis mind you, ganged up by mobs and beaten to the very edge of my life more times than I would like to count. It was even worse on my birthday. I spent a many of my birthdays in the hospital fighting for my life due to being mobbed. While I was at the hospital, the abuse didn't stop there either. There was a lot of the hospital staff who tried to kill me while I was out due to an attack earlier. Also, my living conditions weren't any better ether. When I was six, I was thrown out of the orphanage onto the streets to fend for myself. I ate out of the trash, and slept in alley ways. I stayed on the streets for about six months before the Hokage realized were I was, and had set me up an apartment to stay at. The place was a derelict hotel converted to and apartment building. I never had hot water, and a lot of times the water wouldn't work for weeks at a time; the same with the electric, and gas. The only reason why I was able to have any sort of utilities was that the Hokage had set up a stipend to pay all of my bills for me. To top it all off, The stores there would charge me three times the price than any other person would be charged, and the stuff I bought was usually rotten, broken, or just unusable. That is if the store didn't just out right kick me out as soon as I walked in. There were only a few places that treated me like a normal person, like the people at the Raman stand, but I didn't go there as much as I wanted to because by me being there would hurt their business. So I would only stop by there on occasion. My breaking point was just after I had a fight with one of my teammates while I was in the hospital from recovering the teme Sasuke. I had always had a huge crush on her, but she told me she wished that Sasuke would have finished me off, just because I hurt Sasuke defending myself. She slapped me, and I slapped her back. I told her she was dead to me, and left the hospital back to my apartment. When I got there, I found my place had been fire bombed, and spray painted 'Go back to hell demon' all over the place. I decided then to leave the leaf behind and head to snow to have a shot at happiness because I would never be happy back at Konoha. The reason I am going to snow was because last year, me and my team had a mission there. I helped liberate the country from a tyrant, and helped the new ruler win back her chance to rule her country. Her name is Koyuki Kazahana, but she was also the actress that played princess gale in the movies. When the final battle was over I was in there hospital unconscious when she took this." As he pulled out the photo that princess Koyuki had given him and handed it to her.

She took it and read the back of the photo and finally understood everything. While Naruto was in the middle of explaining why and were he was leaving had made a decision of her own. "Well shithead, I don't know how you kept from killing everyone in that shithole of a village, but I'm glad you left because I wouldn't be here now. As for you going to snow…. Well I want to go with you. I can't go back to the sound, so I have nowhere else to fucking go. You saved my life when you could have just as easily left me there to fucking dye, and for that I am forever in you debt. I say we partner up with each other, and we become a team of our own, and become equal partners. So, what do you say, shithead?"

Naruto was taken aback by this. Here was someone willing to become his teammate and partner. He had never had someone who he could rely on like this, and it kinda of over whelmed him and started to tear up a bit. "You really mean that Tayuya. Of course we can become partners. From this day forth we will be the most bad ass team that has ever been, partner." and held out his hand to Tayuya.

She took his hand and gave it a shake "Now, first thing we need to do is find some new clothes, and I will need to find another flute as that damn sand flee broke mine with her damn summoning jutsu."

Naruto nodded, and then looked to see several clones returning with the supplies need to make camp, and went to help the clones when he stopped and turned around and looked back to Tayuya "Ohh, before I forget, could you remind me later to tell you how I found out a way to help with our training that, if I am right, will make us both into powerhouses before you know it. All thanks to my favorite jutsu, the shadow clone jutsu." And turned and left a once again confused Tayuya behind who thought back to herself. 'This might not be so bad after all.' And got up to help a clone set up camp and cook dinner for her and her new partner.


	3. Chapter 3

_**An Old Friend**_

The next day...

In Konoha...

A lone Anbu stood at attention in front of the Hokage who had her elbows on the desk and had her face buried in her hands. "I am sorry lady Hokage as i must report a mission failure. I am afraid his trail headed into the land of earths border. Also, i went by his apartment to find some clues as to where he might have gone. When i got there i found his apartment had been firebombed, and there was graffiti in paint saying 'demon go home' all over the place. There was nothing left. I apologize for failing you lady Hokage."

With her hands still in her face gave a quick sigh before looking back with tear stained cheeks and red bloodshot eyes to her Anbu captain. "I want ALL parties responsible for the destruction of private property turned into the T&I department. Also, i want all of the Genin team Jonin sensei here in my office immediately, and tell Kakashi if he one second late i will shove a certain orange object up a hole so deep he will... just make sure he is here." and waved off the Anbu.

She sat there in silence and lets another tear fall onto the desk. With another sigh she collects herself for the next few meetings. 'He may be gone, but I'm not giving up on Naruto just yet. I will start by fixing some mistakes that should have been done before hand.' she thinks to herself.

She stands up and walks up to the photo of the fourth Hokage. She bit her thumb and pressed it to a random spot beside the photo and the photo faded to reveal a safe. She performed a long series of hand signs and the safe swung open. She grabbed a few scrolls out the safe. She shut the door and the photo reappeared. She then walked to the photo of the third and did the exact same thing. Grabbing a few scrolls out and resealed that photo as well.

She walked back to her desk and put away the scrolls for future use. She presses a button on the intercom to alert sheuzne. "Yes Tsunade-sama?" came a voice over the loud speaker.

She presses the button again to speek "I need you to send for my advisers. Tell them it's an emergency and to be prompt. Also i am having a meeting in a few moments so i don't want any interruptions unless it's truly an emergency."

"Hi Hokage-sama." was her response.

After just a few more moments all of the Jonin sensei had shown up including a grumpy looking Kakashi. The Hokage stood and turned to look out of the window at the village. She started to think back as to why she was here in the first place, Naruto. Another stray tear falls from her cheek. After composing herself again she turns back to the small crowd that has gathered behind her.

"Thank you for showing up. I have a few things i would like to discuss. First off i am informing you of what has happened in the past few days. First off there is the matter of Sasuke Uchiha. Three days ago Sasuke had taken upon himself to abandon the leaf village and join up with the sound village. I had sent out a few teams for a recovery mission the next morning that consisted of a team of one Chūnin and four Genin. Chūnin Shikamaru led the team of Kiba, Neji, Chōji, and...Naruto." she could barely choke out Naruto's name without breaking down again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Most of the people in the room unaware of how much the Hokage's heart were breaking.

She continued. "The other team was the suna Genin team that was by chance here on a diplomatic mission. The mission was a success but not without some major injures to the rescue party. I won't go into detail but all parties should make a full recovery. As to Sasuke, he is in the T&I mental ward for an evaluation. So, further decisions regarding him will be made after we have all of the facts in."

The Hokage turned back around to face the window to hide her face while she broke the news about Naruto. "Also, as of yesterday evening, Naruto Uzumaki has retired from the leaf ninja ranks and has left the village due to the treatment of the villagers. I have sent out multiple search parties' to find him, but he has crossed into the land of earth's border. He will not be classified as a missing-nin due to the fact that he turned in his headband before he left via the shadow clone technique.

She took a moment to reflect on why she was having this meeting to begin with. With a deep sigh, she continued "To tell you the truth, i don't blame him for leaving with the way he was treated in this village. As such i hereby disband the law regarding the Kyūbi. So i want each of you to tell the full truth about Naruto to your student's. You may want to inform their parents beforehand to prepare them for the barrage of questions they will likely to have. Just so you know..." she said as she turned around with a very pissed off look on her face "i blame this entire village for the loss of one of the greatest person i have ever known. I want you all to meet back here in two days because we will have to restructure the Genin teams. All but Kakashi, you are dismissed."'

One by one all of the Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke, except one. The Hokage looked straight into the silver haired Jonin's eye. "I am officially disbanding team seven and you are to return to the Anbu ranks as i have a long term mission for you. You are to covertly find Naruto and try to convince him to return home. If not your secondary objective is to aid him in his travels as you see fit. You are to report to me once a week via your summoning hounds about your progress. Also, you are to give him these scrolls from his parents. Its time he knew the truth, but tell him to keep this on the down-low. On a side note, is there any reason why you can think of that he would head into the earth country of all places." the Hokage said while studying a map of the elemental nations.

Kakashi was looking at the map when something caught his eye. "Hmm, this is just a hunch but i think i know where he might be heading. Just to the north of earth is the land of snow/spring. It is one of the few places he has been where he is actually treated like the hero we know he is. If I'm not mistaken the daimyo was quite taken by Naruto. So i think i will start my search there. Is there anything else Hokage-sama? I would like to get started as soon as possible."

The Hokage shook her head and Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. She stood back up and walked back to the window to look at the village when there was a knock at the door. With a loud sigh she turned and sat back at her desk. "Enter."

In the door walked in the three people she dreaded telling about what has transpired. The first two was her sensei's old team mates and current lead advisors. The last person was Danzō. Kami how she hated this man. He was more devious and shady than she was comfortable with. She had an urge to grab the bottle of sake she had hidden in her coat. 'This is going to be a long day.' she thought to herself. "Welcome, thank you for coming with such short notice. I am afraid i have some disturbing news you need to be aware of. Please have a seat."

The land of earth...

Some random port city...

Tayuya and Naruto were walking down a dirt path to a small port town off the coast of earth country. They enter town to see a small impoverished village with more bars than anything else. There wasn't many people milling around but the ones that were was all civilian but defiantly not civilized. Most look to be sailors from all over the elemental nation.

"So shithead, now that we are in town, what now." Tayuya said as she walked besides Naruto down a dirt street. Looking around she saw the buildings were all run down and in need of alot of TLC. Most of the people that were walking around were sailors of various ships that were docked at the port.

Naruto looked around till he spotted what he was looking for. A sign that indicated a store that sold to shinobi. "Well Tay-chan, i want to stop at that store and resupply and pick up some new outfits for the two of us. Were we are going is quite cold all the time so i would recommend you do the same. Who knows maybe he has a flute for sale. You said that you use one as a medium for your genjutsu, right?"

Tayuya glared at Naruto for her nick name but seeing as she had such a wonderful nick name for him really couldn't say anything, didn't mean that she had to like it though. "Yea i did shithead. Mine was snapped fighting that wind bag of a sand flee. I still don't know how those two was able to beat me while i was in my second stage of the seal. Anyhow, let's go see what they got. A new outfit dose sound good. I need to change this outfit. This stupid rope belt is kinda of a calling card for anyone following the pedo snake."

The two teens walked into the door of the shop only for the teen's mouths to drop to the floor as soon as they walk in. Inside they find a store with a little of everything they needed. The shop keeper heard the bell of the door and seen the two teens walk in to the store. "Ahh, welcome, if there is anything you need just let me know and I'll assist you however i can."

The two teens look to the back of the shop to see an older man standing behind the counter. Naruto was the first to recover from his daze." Yea old man, we are in need of some warmer gear and some other supplies as well. I also need some information about getting passage to snow country. Price is of no concern. Just keep it on the down low. We don't want any unwanted attention brought to ourselves."

The shop owner started laughing out loud. "Hahahaha, don't worry about. I deal with missing Nins all the time, so i know how to be discreet. Take a look around and look for whatever you need. If you have any question just let me know. As to the passage to snow, i do believe there is a cargo ship docked here that will be heading to snow later on this evening. The captain is a frequent customer of mine, and owes me a favor. If you like i can send for him so that you can ask if you can book a passage upon his ship. It might take an hour or so. So just hang around here and I'll send for him. While you wait you have free reign to look at my inventory. We have dressing rooms to the side over there if you need to try on outfits. Just put what you want on the counter and ill ring you up when you're done. Like i said before, if you have any questions just ask. I will send for the captain with my summons." the shop owner took out a slip of paper and scribbled something o it before he rolled it up into a small scroll. He then did a set of hand signs and a small seagull appeared in a puff of smoke. The shop owner whispered something to the bird before attaching the scroll to the leg of the bird. He carried the bird over to the window and let it go. Walking back he saw the two teens looking at him with a confused look upon their faces. "Hahaha, don't worry. I use to be a ninja as well, but in the last war i was hit with a jutsu that broke my spine. I healed enough to walk, but my ninja career was over. So i started up this supply store to supplement my income. So don't worry about any info leaving here. Its good business to stay neutral to any village, or missing Nin."

The two teens split up and started looking at the inventory all around the shop. Naruto went to the men's section of clothing. After ten minutes of searching he came across something caught his eye. It was a pair of white and lite blue camo cargo paints. With it was a hoody with the same camo pattern. He decided that he needed to start wearing something other than orange. Too many people knew that all he would wear was orange. That got him to thinking. He also needed a mask of some kind to hide his whisker marks as they were a dead giveaway as to him being Kyūbi's container. Looking around he found a mask that would fit the bill. It was just like Kakashi's face mask but this one was white instead of black. On the way to the counter he passed up the shoe section and found a pair of black lace up steal toed combat boots. Grabbing the boots walked up to the counter and laid the items down. "Hey ol-man, i am going to need about four other pairs of the clothes, Also another pair of the boots as well."

The shop owner nodded and went to the back to grab the sets of clothing. As he was waiting, Naruto was looking around a display case with various sets of knives and kunai when something caught his attention. It was an oversized knife about a foot long with the blade being about seven inches of the length made of a non-reflective black metal. The handle was made of layered wood. For some reason the item seemed to call out to him.

The shop owner came back out and laid the items upon the counter and saw Naruto looking at the display case. "Ahh, i see something that has caught you eye."

Naruto looked to the shop owner and pointed to the knife inside the display case. "Yea ol-man, i was wondering about this knife here. I have never seen anything like that before. What can you tell me about it?"

The shop owner saw what he was pointing to and his grin grew wide. "Hahaha, i see you got a good eye. That there was brought in from a sailor that was from the western nations. It is called a ka-bar. If you're interested i also have a scroll detailing the kinjutsu regarding this item. Tell you what, since you are buying so much stuff I'll let you have the knife and the scroll on the house. To tell you the truth that knife has been in the display case for a long while now. Nobody seemed to be interested in a foreign weapon. Now, how about i seal all of you stuff into a storage scroll for you. How about you miss, is there anything in particular you were looking for?"

Tayuya looked up from the clothing rack when the shop owner started to speak to her. "As a matter of fact i was wondering if you knew i could get a flute from. I am a genjutsu user and i use a flute as a medium and the one i had was broken in my last battle."

The shop owner raised an eyebrow at this. "As a matter of fact, i just so happen to have something that might just fit the bill. It's in the back, be right back." he turned and walked back to the back of the store. The two ninja heard the man shuffling things around and soon reappeared behind the counter carrying a small but highly decorated box. He sat the box down on the counter and undid the laches to pull the box open. Inside was a flute in three different pieces. The metal was black so it wouldn't give off any reflection. He turned the box around and let Tayuya examine the flute.

When she saw it she let out a gasp. She recognized the construction of the flute. It was a battle flute constructed out of a chakra conductive metal. It was extremely rugged and all but unbreakable. She had heard of them before but they were extremely rare to find. She was staring at it when the shop owner closed the box back up and handed it to Tayuya who was wide eyed. Seeing this, the shop owner started to laugh a little. "Hahaha, i want you to have this. It has been sitting in the back of my store forever now collecting dust. Just spread the word about my shop and we will call it even."

About that time the bell rang indicating someone had entered the shop. The shop owner looked to the front door to see the captain he had sent for. "Ahh, captain Nomura. Just the salty sea dog i wanted to see. How have you been ol-friend?"

The captain walks up to the counter to greet his old friend, but before he gets there he sees two costumers standing at the counter. The blond was the one who caught his eye. "Naruto-san, is that you?"

Naruto looks to the captain and it dawns on him that he knew this man. This was the captain that took team seven to the land of snow originally. Naruto gives a bright smile and holds out his hand for the captain to shake. "Nice to see you again captain. I can't believe of all the ships out there you would be the one here. It is sure is nice to see you again."

"Hahaha... it's good to see you too brat." the captain turns to the shop owner. "So, i received a summoning for something about a favor?"

The shop owner then points to Naruto. Naruto gives a nerves laugh while he rubs the back of his head. "Hehehe... Yea, i was wondering if you had any room for two people to head to the land of snow. Me and Tayuya would like passage, and i will pay if that helps any."

The captain looks at Naruto, then to Tayuya, then back to Naruto and busts out laughing. "Hahahaha... Sure you can tag along, and put your money away. I will not charge the hero of my country for passage. All i ask is that you lend a hand from time to time with your clone thingy's. They were very handy the last time you were aboard. As soon as you're done here i will escort the two of you there as we were just about to depart when i received his message."

Naruto turns around to the shop keeper "hey ol-man, all i need is an outfit for Tay-chan and will on our way." Naruto turns to Tayuya to she has an outfit in her hands. It was a pair of white and blue cargo paints, wire mesh body suit, and a lite blue long sleeve shirt with a treble clef on the shoulders. She heads into the changing room to change. When she got out Naruto took his turn in the changing booth. When he came out he headed to the counter and paid for his stuff. The two teens then started to follow the captain out the door. "Thanks again for all your help ol-man. I won't forget it. Later." Naruto yelled out while walking out the door.

The two teens follow the captain to his ship. Once aboard the captain showed the two teens to the guest room. "Well, the trip should take about two weeks to complete. All i have is the one room so you will have to share. The rest room is just down the hall. I will send someone to your room when dinner is ready." The captain said the walked out the room to leave the two teens alone.

Inside the room were one bed, a desk, and a dresser. Seeing how the sleeping arrangements were made the two teens blush a bit. "Listen here shit head, if you turn out to be a perv i promise you that you will regret It." she said glaring at Naruto.

Naruto looked back and forth to Tayuya and the bed, and gave a long sigh. "This is going to be a long two weeks." he said just under his breath.


End file.
